


Nein of Stars

by Natural_Log



Series: Widofjord From My Head [9]
Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M, NEIN IN SPAAAAAACE, StarTrek and Firefly Mix Alternate Universe, space, tags will get updated as it goes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-19
Updated: 2020-11-19
Packaged: 2021-03-09 17:39:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,634
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27630121
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Natural_Log/pseuds/Natural_Log
Summary: The stars are many and space is vast. It's a miracle that people run into each other at the right time. When it's needed. When it works.Like void scrap getting pulled together by the small forces of gravity they exert. Collecting, spinning slowly, accumulating mass and speed. Becoming something larger than they were alone. Sometimes it turns into a new planetoid, a seed for something new. Sometimes it turns into a meteor and destroys a planet.The Nein are a lot like that. Happening into the gravity field of each other. Caleb wonders what they might become.If they will stick together. If they will drift apart again.
Relationships: Fjord/Caleb Widogast
Series: Widofjord From My Head [9]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1198351
Comments: 9
Kudos: 20





	Nein of Stars

**Author's Note:**

> Think Star Trek mashed with Firefly. Lots of mercs, a couple of big empires and dynasties trying to hold a bunch of systems together, some science focused exploration and a whole lotta space scuffles.

“It’s just books,” Caleb let the guard peel his coat back far enough to see his holsters. Incredibly old fashioned, but reliable as hell. “As I said, I’m a researcher with the-”

“Cobalt Soul, yeah I heard you,” the nameless guard number 4 let Caleb’s coat fall closed again with a huff. “Doesn’t mean I’m going to let you wander around here. This is a crop processing facility, not a library.”

“A well guarded processing facility, it seems.” Caleb cursed internally and made sure he spoke loud enough for his friend to hear. Of course the guard happened to have a modicum of intellect. 

Surprisingly-intelligent-Guard-Number-4 raised an eyebrow and tilted his head towards the front door. “It’s not open to the public either. Privately owned. Proprietary trade secrets. Hence-”

“Hence the handful of guards posted to make sure I don’t get lost.”

With a nudge of his phaser Number 4 made his intentions with Caleb clear. In response, Caleb held his hands up again and turned towards the still ajar front door. “Very well, no need for an altercation. I’ll return tomorrow with my datapad.”

“You do that.”

It was night time, early evening. Caleb ran a few calculations in his head about the distance between buildings, the possibility of this escalating between more than the four guards and himself, the likelihood he would get to walk away from this one.

The numbers didn’t come out great in his favor. But then, he wasn’t entirely on his own. And Veth tended to push the numbers when she wanted to. 

Or when she was sober.

A stray slug whizzed past Caleb and Number 4 gave a shout. Dropping low, Caleb rolled behind the nearby console and pressed his back against it. “A little warning next time!” he called out.

“Stay down please!” Veth called, and the way her voice caught on the first ‘S’ made Caleb press his head back against the smooth plastic harder.

Right. Recalculating with the clarification of a Drunk Veth put things into a higher confidence rating. Still not coming up great for him.

Number 3 and 2 rounded the edge of the building, their footfalls heavy and new phaser fire raining around Caleb. He winced when one shot landed near his foot and left a small smoking crater. Phasers were not set to stun.

His numbers were starting to look entirely too dire for comfort. 

Spinning into a crouch, Caleb twirled a diamond between his fingers and threw out his free hand. The spray of light landed and shards of ice covered the entirety of Number 2’s right side, causing him to shout and topple over. With a wry grin Caleb rolled the other direction, dodging more phaser fire, and locked onto where Number 4 was staggering to his feet.

Unfortunate, Caleb thought as he spun the diamond again. He was starting to like that one. His eyes had a bit of appreciation for Caleb’s books. Still, more ice sprayed across the guard’s uniform and he went down hard. Caleb narrowed his eyes and pushed himself up to his feet, turning to take in the scene.

“Did you get it?” Veth called, and Caleb’s shoulders sagged. Shit. He had to go back in there. 

“No,” he flipped open his communicator as he stepped over Number 4’s body. “I’m serious, next time hoot or something. You nearly caught my arm.”

The first office had already been rifled, so Caleb tapped the pad next to the hallway and scanned through the menu. “Sorry,” Veth sounded subdued, “I saw him coming out with you and that gun at your back so I figured it was game time.”

“I’m not mad,” Caleb said absently and tapped the pad off. Two doors down the hallway, a storage of some kind. “Just wary of blaster scars.”

“They’d make you look more rugged,” Veth mumbled. “But no scars for you, please. So far the sensors haven’t finished sending the alarm to local Crownsguard, the looping ‘if’ is causing them some trouble.”

The infrastructure of this facility was much more ominous at night, with most of the power off. Caleb walked down the hallway in pitch darkness. Eight steps from the first door to the second panel, which meant 20.46 to the second door. “I love the looping ‘if’,” he whispered into his com and stopped in the darkness. Reaching a hand out he immediately lit the pad next to his objective. It was too bad, he thought, that nobody was here to see his brilliance. 

Ah well, he tapped the backdoor key into the pad and the door slid open. His memory would have to suffice. 

Cool, stale air blew past him and Caleb tilted his head. The lights would have come on, but he had overridden the sensors. The air should still be circulated though. Storage meant power, meant heat sensitivity. Digging out his flashlight meant he had to put his com back, but the room was lit up for his weak eyes.

Two storage cabinets were pressed into the back left corner- filing cabinets. Caleb blinked. As in, drawers that held physical paper copies of information. 

“Oh,” the flashlight dipped as Caleb recalculated the timetable to allow for rifling a fucking filing cabinet. “Fuck me.”

Six minutes and 42 seconds later his com beeped. With a finger holding his place he dug it out of his pocket and flipped it open. “As I said,” he whispered, “physical. Paper. Copies.”

“I know,” Veth was out of breath, so Caleb sat upright and stilled, “but they broke the looping ‘if’ and you said that means we will have like ten minutes before this place starts crawling with Crownsguard.”

“Approximately nine minutes and twelve seconds based on the reported response time in their last quarterly public briefing and distance to their outpost,” Caleb rattled as his eyes darted across the remaining files. “Though they likely fudge those at least a little so-”

“But accounting for the fact that I saw a patrol five minutes ago?” 

“Oof.” The probability of Caleb walking away wasn’t quite in the red but it was teetering that way. “Right. I’ll be out in 97 seconds.”

“Plan A is burned, I haven’t checked B but I’m thinking that’s too close to the mainway, so-”

“Fuck,” Caleb flipped back a few files, grabbed the manila folder he wanted, and shoved the drawer shut. It protested and he cursed again. “Shit, fuck, ass- I’ll see you at C.”

The com snapped closed and Caleb frantically patted himself down. Where the fuck did people used to put these things? Was he just supposed to walk around with a file in his hands? As if that wasn’t suspicious as anything.

He landed on carefully folding it and tucking it into his holster. It would work temporarily, and Caleb didn’t have time to muck around finding a better spot. The door slid shut behind him and he jogged back down the hall blindly, reaching out to open the next door and skidding through the front offices. 

The bodies were piled up next to the console, mostly out of sight if anyone glanced from the main roadway. Also suspiciously missing their buttons, if Caleb had to bet. He stepped over them and hugged the wall as he cut back toward the loading bay at the back. Their way in had been easy, a little deception and Veth acting like a small child running free of her parent. That wouldn’t work on the way out, considering the quiet beep and flashing orange lights. 

So. Loading bay it was. Veth’s recon told him it was mostly used for unloading grain from the indoor silos into transport vehicles. She’d offered to use it as a way in, but the machinery involved in the transport tubing was too complex and they hadn’t gotten any blueprints in time. It made for an acceptable exit though. Caleb would have preferred to use a door but he wasn’t above scaling a fence now and again. 

Veth was hunkered near the building, trying to stay hidden in a shadow and failing. “Caleb!” she hissed and darted to his side. “Did you get it?”

“Maybe.” He leapt up and caught the fence, felt the cold metal bite into his hands as he struggled to climb it quietly. “Was a little rushed, a little unprepared.”

“Sorry,” Veth passed him nimbly, even with the bulk of her rifle tucked into her backpack. She cleared the top and flipped over it easily, grinning at him through the fence before she dropped. 

Caleb tried not to grumble as he swung a leg over the top, but something was bothering him. Something he was missing in his calculations. By his mark, he shouldn’t have made it out without getting hit. The scales had tipped to red between trying to figure out how to stash a paper folder and the hard time he was having with the stupid fence. But to make it out with only a minor scuffle meant he missed a variable. 

Of course he pinned it down the second he shifted his weight over the top of the fence. Veth was waiting a few yards away, looking further up the street. She wasn’t watching inside the fence because she likely thought they had taken care of the guards. 

She never was as good at faces as Caleb. By his count, they hadn’t seen the first guard since they took out his compatriots. 

The phaser fire hurt, of course it did. Burned into his ribs and he felt something crack with the impact. He hoped it wasn’t his book, but then he was tipped over the fence and the ground was coming up to meet him and, well, Caleb faded into black still trying to calculate the chances he would wake up. 

**Author's Note:**

> my nerdy tumblr is moonelf19 that's where I ramble about critical role stuff  
> my writing tumblr is mefd19 that's where I ramble about what I'm writing and reblog writing memes  
> k thats all


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